Is Data Is, or Is Data Ain’t, a Plural?

We here at Real Time Economics thought it might be worth pointing out a change in the Wall Street Journal’s style for the word “data” before the corrective emails start flying.

There’s a large intersection, we suspect, in a Venn diagram of our readers in one set, data hounds in another and grammarians in a third. So, we thought it useful to devote a post to explaining our rationale. We’ll turn it over to our style guru Paul Martin:

Most style guides and dictionaries have come to accept the use of the noun data with either singular or plural verbs, and we hereby join the majority.

As usage has evolved from the word’s origin as the Latin plural of datum, singular verbs now are often used to refer to collections of information: Little data is available to support the conclusions.

Otherwise, generally continue to use the plural: Data are still being collected.